Avdiivka, a small town in eastern Ukraine, may soon turn into a “second Bakhmut,” where Ukrainian forces have resisted Russian invaders for eight months but run the prospect of being completely surrounded.

With analogies to trench warfare from World War One, the battle for Bakhmut in the industrial Donbas has been one of the toughest of the nearly 13-month-old conflict in Ukraine.

In an attack that hasn’t achieved any significant successes, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces claimed last week that Moscow’s soldiers are now attempting to completely encircle Bakhmut.

On Monday, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Tavria military command said he agreed with an assessment by British Defense Intelligence that Russia was mounting pressure on supply lines to Avdiivka, as it has done around Bakhmut.

“The enemy is constantly trying to encircle the town of Avdiivka. I very much agree with my colleagues from the UK that Avdiivka may soon become the second Bakhmut,” spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi said.

“However, I would like to say that all is not well with the Russian units attacking in this direction,” he added in televised comments.

Ukraine has said Russian forces are taking heavy losses in their offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Avdiivka had a peacetime population of more than 30,000. Unlike Bakhmut, it has been a frontline town for many years.

Ukrainian forces were dug in there long before Russia’s full-scale invasion last year, holding the line against Russian-backed militants who took control of swathes of territory in east Ukraine in 2014 after Russian forces seized Crimea.

Avdiivka lies just to the north of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, of which Ukraine lost control in 2014.

British Defense Intelligence tweeted on Monday that Russian forces had made “creeping gains” around Avdiivka and said the sprawling Avdiivka Coke Plant was “likely to be seen as particularly defendable key terrain as the battle progresses”.